This blog may help to change the world, it's worth a try.

See more at NumbersUSAThis video helps bring into focus the truly appalling world poverty we see today. The rich countries of the world need to do more to help the poor countries. Too much wealth is in the hands of too few people.

Interest rates have been at an all-time low now for seven years in the UK at 0.5%. It has been a bad time for savers but good for those trying to pay off their mortgage.

I think that the rate will stay at its present level for the foreseeable future or perhaps indefinably. There is even the possibility that it will go into negative territory, which will mean that you will be charged to keep your money in the bank.

During the last seven years savers have been losing money on their savings and it is hitting the retired worse as they were trying to live off any interest during retirement.

The poor are getting poorer and the middle class is being pushed down towards the bottom. In the end if nothing changes there will be only two class systems in this country – the poor and the unbelievably rich. I think this has been engineered to supress the people and put more power into fewer hands and it is not just the UK but is a pattern in the rest of the World as well.

There is so much bad news in the World right now concerning money and banks, perhaps we need to withdraw our money from these criminal organizations and stick it under the mattress. Not sure if I can do this, there is also the possibility that even the paper money could become worthless. Maybe we need to invest in real things that will protect us in the future, like food, fuel, homes, etc. We most certainly need to invest in community, this is where we can protect each other, and we are helpless trying to weather the coming storm by ourselves. (Forsooth)

The richest 1% now has as much wealth as the rest of the world combined, according to Oxfam.

It uses data from Credit Suisse from October for the report, which urges leaders meeting in Davos this week to take action on inequality.

Oxfam also calculated that the richest 62 people in the world had as much wealth as the poorest half of the global population.

It criticised the work of lobbyists and the amount of money kept in tax havens.

Oxfam predicted that the 1% would overtake the rest of the world this time last year.

It takes cash and assets worth $68,800 (£48,300) to get into the top 10%, and $760,000 (£533,000) to be in the 1%. That means that if you own an average house in London without a mortgage, you are probably in the 1%.

Oxfam said that the 62 richest people having as much wealth as the poorest 50% of the population is a remarkable concentration of wealth, given that it would have taken 388 individuals to have the same wealth as the bottom 50% in 2010.
Read more at www.bbc.co.ukThis is a shock to me as it puts me in the 10% and I do not earn that much. 62 people having as much wealth as the poorest 50% is beyond comprehension. (Forsooth)

The National Economic and Social Rights Initiative along with Amnesty International are asking the U.S. to step up its efforts to address the foreclosure crisis, including by giving serious consideration to the growing call for a foreclosure moratorium and other forms of relief for those at risk, and establishing a housing finance system that fulfills human rights obligations.

New government census reports have revealed disturbing information that details the cold, hard numbers of Americans who have been deeply affected by the state of our economy, and bank foreclosure practices:

In the last few days, the U.S. government census figures have revealed that 1 in 2 Americans have fallen into poverty or are struggling to live on low incomes. And we know that the financial hardships faced by our neighbors, colleagues, and others in our communities will be all the more acutely felt over the holiday season.

Along with poverty and low incomes, the foreclosure rate has created its own crisis situation as the number of families removed from their homes has skyrocketed.
Read more at www.trueactivist.com

Greek banks have reopened after weeks of closure. The patient and orderly way customers queued outside to use ATMS during the big shut down was an impressive sight, especially for those people who are fond of considering Greek people as somehow incapable of doing things right.

But nothing is harmonious. The queues outside the job centres are as long as ever, while many of the shops that shut down at the same time as the banks, still haven’t reopened. Anti-austerity and anti-governmental protests have started to take place for the first time since Syriza came to power. Dozens were arrested as the Greek parliament voted to accept a new bailout deal from Europe, based on the very terms that were rejected just days earlier in a national referendum. Fresh riots took place as the parliament passed a law that allows the confiscation of people’s homes.

As Syriza burns its bridges with the general public, life for the majority of people has returned to hopeless normality – indeed, many people have spent more time talking about the wildfires that have broken out around the country than the troika in the past few days.
Read more at Greek Reporter

There are eerie parallels between the stock market’s recent behaviour and how it behaved right before the 1929 crash. That at least is the conclusion reached by a frightening chart that has been making the rounds on Wall Street. The chart superimposes the market’s recent performance on top of a plot of its gyrations in 1928 and 1929. The picture isn’t pretty. And it’s not as easy as you might think to wriggle out from underneath the bearish significance of this chart.

Global inequality has increased to the extent that the €1.2trn combined wealth of the 85 richest people is equal to that of the poorest 3.5 billion – half of the world’s population – according to a new report from development charity Oxfam.

And the report, entitled Working For The Few, claims that growing inequality has been driven by a “power grab” by wealthy elites, who have co-opted the political process to rig the rules of the economic system in their favour.

Changing the World

I search the internet for items that concern me and repost to share with others, I always put a link to the original website for continued reading. I also write my own posts when I want to share my feelings about our world.